Last Morgan Hill soccer team eliminated from Cup
The sole remaining Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League State Cup team, the boys U12 Pumas, was eliminated 4-3 Saturday by the Napa Sport from contention after a hard fought game that had all the drama of a good Hollywood plot but without the happy ending.
The Pumas got off to a great start in the third minute with early pressure. A deflected shot landed in front of Jeremy Valdez, who kicked in the goal with his left foot just out of range of the keeper.
But the early goal energized the Sport, which exerted tremendous pressure on the Pumas for the next 12 minutes and scored three times in quick succession.
The Pumas were looking a yard slow to the ball in every third of the field. First, the Napa right forward broke free of his mark and hit a scorching shot that hit the underside of the bar out of the reach of Derek Majjasie in goal.
Before the Pumas could regroup, Napa forced a corner from the right. The well placed corner kick was headed between the fullback and the keeper, and neither player was able to clear it out.
Then in the 15th minute, Napa won a free kick on the edge of the penalty box. A poorly aligned defense left the Pumas keeper unsighted for a shot to the corner on the right side.
For the remaining 15 minutes of the first half, the Pumas regained their composure and took control in all areas of play. The defense played hard and began winning the ball in the back third part of the field. Particularly strong were Wang and Phillip Thrappas in the middle, while Stewart and Guenther controlled the flanks.
The midfielders of Rauley Cambra, Anthony Velazquez, Noe Rivera and Robert Adam began feeding the forwards and making over lapping runs. Although chances were created, the Pumas were unable to convert.
Shots from Eric Sanchez, Jeremy Valdez, Adam and Rivera were all blocked. The Pumas opened up the side lines with Valdez on the left and Adam and Sanchez on the right, but the crosses were collected by the Napa keeper.
At halftime, the Pumas coaches changed the formation from a 4-4-2 to a more offensive 4-3-3 line-up.
As the second half opened, the Pumas played the ball back right and pulled the Napa team forward to open up the field.
They then switched the ball to the left and quickly in to the Napa center and then switched again to the right where Rivera hit a shot past the stranded keeper. This text-book goal took just 35 seconds.
The Pumas then settled into their game and put the Napa defense under extreme pressure. The left side with Cambra and Valdez working well and on the right Adam and Dakota Hoskins.
Finally, with a cross deflected to Valdez in the middle of the penalty area, Valdez controlled the ball and calmly placed the ball into the net from about 14 yards out to tie it up 3-3.
Valdez, Adam, Rivera, and Thrappas all came close to scoring, but Napa deflected the shots. Hoskins and Schaeffer came on as substitutes during the game to provide fresh momentum to the Pumas attack.
The Pumas took control of all areas of play for the remainder of the game.
The heartbreak came in the eighth minute of injury time and just one minute from the final whistle when a last gasp Napa break down the right was pushed out for a corner.
The ball, which bounced dangerously around the middle, was knocked in as Puma player tried to deflect it away.
“The Pumas played one of the best games of their season,” said coach Ricardo Martinez. “They never gave up and kept coming at the strong Napa team. They won the respect of the crowd and the Napa team by dominated most of the play.”
Napa advances to the quarter finals in Turlock next weekend.
